The 8th May is celebrated as the day of the White Lotus, in memory of the great initiate Helena P. Blavatsky. In the new book “Golden Stairs” by K. Parvathi Kumar she is described as being “as tender as a freshly unfolded white lotus”, but at the same time “as fiery as she is tender”: “Her being is essentially and naturally tender and extremely motherly. But at work she is an embodiment of fiery Will…. She was the chosen darling of the Hierarchy to inaugurate an era of enlightenment. She is regarded as the white lotus that unfolds afresh the beauty and fragrance of new age wisdom.”

You find beautiful thoughts on the symbolism of the lotus in Sri Kumars booklet “The White Lotus“. And the booklet “H.P.B. – Trailblazer for the Aquarian Age” gives a short outline of her outstanding life.

“The Great Ones”. Painting after a photo: H. P. Blavatsky surrounded by 3 Masters, 26-03-2010

A friend sent me the link to a beautiful music video of Leonard Cohen’s “Dance Me to the End of Love“, about love in youth and in old age. A lyrical song, which also has another, deeper dimension: Wikipedia says about the song:

“Although structured as a love song, the song was in fact inspired by the Holocaust. In an interview, Cohen said of the song:
‘Dance Me to the End Of Love’ … it’s curious how songs begin because the origin of the song, every song, has a kind of grain or seed that somebody hands you or the world hands you and that’s why the process is so mysterious about writing a song. But that came from just hearing or reading or knowing that in the death camps, beside the crematoria, in certain of the death camps, a string quartet was pressed into performance while this horror was going on, those were the people whose fate was this horror also. And they would be playing classical music while their fellow prisoners were being killed and burnt. So, that music, “Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin,” meaning the beauty there of being the consummation of life, the end of this existence and of the passionate element in that consummation. But, it is the same language that we use for surrender to the beloved, so that the song — it’s not important that anybody knows the genesis of it, because if the language comes from that passionate resource, it will be able to embrace all passionate activity.”

I loved his songs already 37 years ago (Suzanne, Bird on the Wire, Songs of Love and Hate…). And he is also a deeply spiritual personality. Wikipedia: “His work often deals with the exploration of religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships. Famously reclusive, having once spent several years in a Zen Buddhist monastery, and possessing a persona frequently associated with mystique, he is extremely well-regarded by critics for his literary accomplishments, for the richness of his lyrics, and for producing an output of work of high artistic quality over a five-decade career.”

Have a look at his YouTube channel.

From the video

An Argentinian friend did a series of comics dedicated to illustrate spiritual principles from the wisdom teachings. The hero of the comics is Swami Urukrama, and his adventures lead him through various strange situations. He is teaching “by way of negative examples”, how it should not be… I had the good luck of proof-reading the adventures of the Swami.  They will be published on the website of WTT-Americana, you find here the first of the series. Or directly to the slideshow.

By the way, they also publish the Lunar Messenger on the website of WTT Americana.

Swami Urukrama

There is a beautiful river running along the borders of our village, the Aare, where we like to go for a walk. I love the scenery of sublime beauty and also like swimming there in summer. For me the river is full of spiritual symbolism.

Two weeks ago I saw a note in our local information paper of our village calling upon the inhabitants to hand in photos and texts about the Aare river for an exposition next summer “Art at the Water”, for which they also plan to release a photo book. I had a look through my collection of photos and sent them a selection. Early one morning I also wrote a poem which I now tried to translate. Here it goes, followed by some impressions

The Aare at Muri

Though you pay us only a short visit
on your journey
from the snow mountains in the background
passing on to the capital
and further on to more distant destinations,
you give us a loving smile,
youthful Aare,
when you come in through under the old wooden bridge
and pass along the pools,
to take again your leave
with a long curve towards Berne.
Sometimes, a bit vain,
you seem to change nearly daily your colourful clothes.
You friendly greet joggers, strollers with their dogs,
rejoice at the lovers.
And during summer days
boats pass by with you
and you refresh us bathers
with your cool-tickling energy,
grant us a little paradise of rest,
into which the villas on the slope
look down through the trees.
And from the other side
roaring iron birds rise into the sky.
Children throw pebbles, laughing,
while fires are burning on the banks
and surfers stand for a short time in your waters.
They feel a little of your power,
which sometimes you suddenly reveal,
when you leave your banks
and carve your way through the valley,
wildly roaring,
sweeping trees away with you,
reminding us of your wild origin.
But mostly your are more silent,
like wrapped in thoughts,
in your meditation
about grey-blue-greenish colours.
And the ferryman reminds you of the
Siddhartha of an eastern world.
Do you dream already here
of your release
into the boundless realms
of the far ocean?

With joy I saw this morning a video from an Argentinean group associated with the WTT, Escuela Claridad, where they were using the paintings I did last November/December and a number of the photos I had shared with some friends in January. So they went on a journey around the world – this being the intention of sharing them. Some more paintings have come since and some more are waiting inside for the right time. Below there is one of them.

Serpent Flower

Last Tuesday I participated in our department management retreat, where we worked out the principles guiding our work. The meeting was in the Study Centre Gerzensee of the Swiss National Bank. It is located partially in a Château surrounded by a beautiful park overlooking a lake, with a fantastic view of the Alps in the background. I took some shots of the springtime ambiance in the park.

The idyllic impression got a dissonance, when a biting smell came from a terrace below the front, where a gardener  in a  protective suit covering the whole body and a big gas mask was spraying poison over the rose trees – calling me brutally back into the present day environmental pollution.

A horse statue galloping through the garden. The horse is a symbol of the vital power of the fiery signs of the zodiac, where the head represents Aries, the body Leo and the tail Sagittarius.

The satyr Pan playing his flute in the garden and evoking the flowers from out of the earth

Enjoying the horn of plenty

An Easter egg on the top of a fountain

The fountain of fresh energy

A fountain in front of the Château in the sunlight

A mighty tree in the garden

Spring ambiance under a tree

Alley leading to the lake

The garden of the little Château, the seminar centre

An old cannon in front of the entrance, with a spiral inside

Magnolia bud

Fishes enjoying playing with water, with the Alps in the background

A friend sent me the link to the fascinating Flame Generator, where you can create your flame artwork. It is the result of an experimental project of Peter Blaškovič, a 3D animator and designer. He writes about his generator:

“I think with tools which inspire you, everyone can be an artist. You can try it here, change different brush settings and paint your own flame paintings. … It’s not easy to explain all brush parameters, so I leave this for your experimentation.”

Enjoy doing your own flame experiments.

A little game of flames generated with “Flame”.

Mandalas are very old geometric structures illustrating rhythmic principles of universal order. A friend sent me the link to a website with an extremely beautiful mandala animation and exquisite music. You can create changing mandalas by moving the mouse or playing with the keyboard. The first music playing is a sublime intonation of the age-old Gayatri mantram. The site is called “Light-Weaver.com” and inspired by the teachings of the Tibetan Master / Alice A. Bailey. It has the motto: “To the Glory of the One”. The site also offers a calendar of the Full Moon and New Moon dates and times, similar to the calendar of the month of the World Teacher Trust.

On the site you also find very beautiful free mandalas

A free mandala from the website light-weaver.com (c)

A beautiful video with pictures of Nicholas Roerich and music of Vangelis.

In November – December 09 I went through some deep experiences, which found an expression in a series of 12 paintings. The pictures speak for themselves. I called them “Images of Synthesis”. You find them for download and as powerpoints here. The content of the images relates to the wisdom teachings as given by the WTT – Dr. K. Parvathi Kumar. (Due to a technical mistake this blogpost published on Jan 14th stayed as an unpublished draft in the admin until Jan. 18th.)

Spring Awakening – Silent Joy – Jubilating